Fixed: At times the browser stops responding to clicking on links or form submit buttons. You click them, and nothing happens. If you use the scroll wheel button on links, they do open in a tab, but you can't use the left mouse button to open the link in the existing window.

EMAIL

New email client icon and mail start page

Lphoto's 'email' button now works!

Fix crash during email creation if user uses 4 or more addressees during email composition, then uses the addressee field scroll bar.

Fixed: while composing an email, after you enter an email address in the To or CC line, you have to hit enter TWICE before it advances to the next line.

Assume mail program as system default.

Set defaults for view images in emails to ON.

Mailto links in Lphoto and Gaim will not compose mail unless a browser has been previously opened during your session.

MailMinder server-client communication is still not fully working (only use Mailminder for testing, not production usage at this time)

Freespire Beta 1 Release Notes

Important Information About Freespire Beta 1

If you haven't already, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you read this post from the Freespire forums about the Beta 1 release. There is a lot of useful information to be found there and it would be helpful for all to read this post before downloading or installing Freespire Beta 1. You may also wish to refer to the Freespire Roadmap for additional information.

Known and Verified Bugs in Freespire Beta 1

Freespire Beta 1 - Changes in this Release

Core OS

There will be two versions available:

Freespire - This is the regular, complete version, comprised largely of open source software, but which also includes proprietary codecs, drivers and applications for an enhanced, "out-of-the-box" user experience. (Visit the Summary of Proprietary Components page for a detailed list of the licensed software used in this version.)

Freespire OSS Edition - This version removes any software that isn't licensed as open source. This version will have limited functionality, as it will not, out-of-the box, support MP3, Real, Java, Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media, ATI drivers, nVidia drivers, etc. (Note: As per this post, the Freespire OSS Edition of Beta 1 will be released a few days after the regular version.)

Freespire is by design kept "light" and to the basic, most-used applications, so that it can fit on one CD. Users can then use CNR or apt-get to install additional software. Visit http://freespire.org/warehouse to learn more.

Basic developer tools and packages are included in the OS by default, such as Kernel configs & headers, gcc libraries, emacs, vim, qtdesigner, etc. (Additional developer tools can be added with CNR or apt-get).

The CNR Warehouse and the CNR Client use standard .deb packaging for all free, open source software. (Only certain 3rd-party, proprietary commercial applications might at times use an encrypted .deb file, as per the copyright holder/vendor's specification.)

During install, by default, an Admin account (a user account with full access rights, "pseudo-root") is created. Logging in as root is still possible, but is not the default and must be intentionally set up after installation is completed. (Visit Creating a Root Login Account to learn more.) Additional user and admin accounts may be added or removed at anytime, each with varying access rights assigned manually.

A Partition Utility (Gparted) for adding or modifying the partitions on a hard drive before installing the Freespire OS boot option has been included.

Unlike Linspire, the Desktop Pager is set on in the sytem tray for accessing multiple desktops.

Added a utility to allow the user to set or change the DVD region code.

Users will be able to install and reboot on multiple partition or multiple hard disc systems.

Email/Browser

The Freespire default web browser and email client are based on Firefox and Thunderbird, respectively, not Mozilla. However, both of these programs still include the advanced features and many improvements Linspire makes to enhance these programs, such as misc. bug fixes, in-line spell checking, "hot words," MailMinder, etc. The email and browser contain many usability patches as well.

A new kcontrol module is included for easily changing the default browser and email. This can be useful for users who wish to use kmail, evolution, Opera, etc instead of the Freespire email/browser clients.

Mailminder is directly integrated into the email client, rather than being part of the Lassist Suite.

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My install went quite well, I had no problems and the install itself was relatively speedy. Bear in mind, however, that I have used the Anaconda installer often in the past. So I’m quite familiar with how it is laid out and what it has to offer. Use the Fedora install guide for Anaconda I linked to above if you’re new to it as it might save you some time when installing Korora 21.

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Chromebooks are pretty darn handy. Even some hardcore Windows users now acknowledge that a Chromebook might be just what you need for work. But, as great as Chromebooks are, and as much progress as Google has made in getting "Web-only" apps such as Google Docs to work offline, there are still times that you want an application that's only available off-line such as the LibreOffice office suite or the GIMP photo editor. For those times, it's darn handy to be able to run a Linux desktop on a Chromebook.